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Growing garlic is a fairly simple matter, so gardeners do not always pay due attention to it. Although, with the right approach and the use of fertilizers, it is possible to grow a crop that is incomparable to that obtained when garlic is left to itself. This is especially well known to those who practice the cultivation of this plant for sale. Indeed, with proper and timely feeding, you can get almost twice as much garlic.
The bigger problem is sometimes the answer to the question: what garlic fertilizer to choose to get the most out of it and do no harm? After all, it must be remembered that garlic is a culture that is very sensitive to the concentration of mineral salts in the soil, therefore it is by no means possible to apply high doses of mineral fertilizers at a time. Therefore, when feeding garlic, it is necessary to approach the implementation of this procedure in a complex manner, using, if possible, various types of fertilizers at different periods of development.
Varieties of garlic
To choose the right timing for feeding garlic, you need to take into account all the features of its growth and development.
Winter garlic is usually characterized by early ripeness (vegetation period is from 80 to 120 days), good yield (up to 1,5 kg per square meter), but it is stored for a very short time. It is usually grown for consumption in autumn and early winter. The bulbs themselves and the cloves of winter varieties are often large (the mass of the bulb can reach 50-60 g), there are few cloves in the bulb (an average of 4-9 pieces). All teeth are located around the rod, located in the center of the bulb.
Spring garlic has small bulbs (20-30 grams), there can be much more cloves in the bulb (from 15 to 30 pieces), there is no core in the middle. Spring varieties are usually late-ripening (the growing season is 80-150 days), less productive (0,5-0,8 kg per 1 sq. Meter), but are well stored until spring, and sometimes even until the next harvest.
Winter garlic, according to its name, is planted in the fall, before winter, and spring – in the spring. Hence the difference in the timing of their top dressing.
Demandingness of garlic to soils
For both winter and spring garlic, the choice of suitable soils for cultivation is very important.
- For both varieties, the soil should be fertile with a neutral reaction or close to it. Garlic does not like acidic soils.
- Winter varieties prefer sandy loamy soils, while light and medium loamy soils are most suitable for spring varieties. Spring varieties of garlic feel quite good even on light alkaline soils.
- For garlic, areas with a high level of groundwater or depressions in the relief with the possibility of flooding are of little use.
- The best predecessors in the garden for garlic are legumes, cucumbers, cabbage and potatoes.
Mineral supplements for garlic
When planting garlic in the fall before winter, it is necessary that the planting material form a good root system, but active growth of the aerial leaf part would not begin. Usually garlic beds are fertilized in the fall by applying organic fertilizers a few weeks before planting. Most often, compost or humus (rotted manure) is used for these purposes, since their effect on plants is not so fast, but longer in time. For each square meter of planting, about one bucket of organic matter is added.
Together with organic matter, it is very important to add superphosphate and potassium sulfate to the ground for beds before planting garlic. The recommended fertilizer application rates are as follows:
1 tablespoon of superphosphate and 0,5 tablespoon of potassium sulfate per square meter of plantings.
This amount is quite enough for the plants to take root well and survive the winter safely. It is in order that the garlic leaves do not grow intensively that nitrogen fertilizers are not specially applied before winter.
But in the spring – a completely different matter. Even before the final snowmelt, the first sprouts of winter garlic usually appear from under the ground. As soon as the seedlings reach 10-12 cm in length, the first dressing of garlic is done in the spring. Since at this moment top dressing is used for intensive plant growth, mineral fertilizers containing nitrogen are most often used: urea or ammonium nitrate.
One tablespoon is dissolved in a 10-liter bucket of water. One bucket is usually enough to water 5 square meters. meters of landings. In early spring, when there is excess moisture, top dressing is usually carried out instead of watering so that the plant roots do not have excess moisture. If the spring is warm and dry, then garlic beds must be shed with water before feeding.
The second top dressing is traditionally carried out 10-15 days after the first, both for winter and spring varieties.
For its implementation, it is advisable to use any complex fertilizer. Most often, nitroammophoska is used for these purposes, which contains all three main nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) in equal proportions. It is usually bred in the following proportions: 2 tablespoons of fertilizer are diluted in water, with a volume of 10 liters, and the garlic garden is watered, spending this volume on 3-5 square meters of land.
Experienced gardeners are advised to carry out the third dressing of garlic a few weeks before the moment when its leaves begin to dry out. Usually it is produced somewhere in the middle or end of June, depending on the variety of garlic: winter varieties earlier, and spring varieties later.
For these purposes, a solution of superphosphate is most often used. In 10 liters of water, dilute 2 tablespoons of fertilizer and water the beds with plants with the resulting solution.
It is important to clearly guess the timing of the third feeding, which is responsible for the growth of the bulbs themselves. If you are late with it, then the leaves will begin to dry out and there will be practically no sense from it, if carried out too early, all its strength can go into the leaves, and not into the bulbs. It is best to focus on the size of the leaves – if they have reached the maximum size, then you can feed.
Top dressing with organic matter
Garlic loves organics very much, so it usually responds well to top dressing with natural fertilizers. Immediately after the winter cold, sprouts of winter varieties can be treated with diluted slurry.
Dilute it in a ratio of 1:10 and water the plants near the roots, trying not to touch the leaves, in order to avoid burns. If you want to add other nutrients, you can sprinkle the ground around the garlic bushes with wood ash and pour water on top of it.
You can also shed garlic plants with an ash solution several more times during the season. To prepare it, 2 liters of ash are diluted in a 10-liter watering can and the plants are watered instead of water under the root.
Use for dressing this plant and a solution of chicken manure, but very carefully. It is diluted in a ratio of 1:15 and when watering, make sure that the solution does not get on the leaves.
When answering the question: “What are the best fertilizers for garlic?” it is important to remember that it all depends on the timing of feeding and the specific situation with the plants.
In addition, mineral fertilizers act quickly, but it is easier to harm sensitive garlic if you accidentally overdose. Perhaps ash is the only fertilizer that is not capable of harming plants, but it does not contain nitrogen and in early spring it is still advisable to use something else containing nitrogen. Of the so-called folk remedies, ammonia is well suited, the use of which may well replace urea. If you dilute 2 tablespoons of ammonia in 10 liters of water, then you can both water and spray garlic beds with this solution.
Foliar top dressing
When any fertilizer is diluted in water and used to spray plants, it is called foliar application. They are very effective in adverse weather conditions, when the roots have difficulty absorbing food from the soil. Foliar feeding of garlic allows you to feed the plants through the leaves. This is the fastest way to help plants with a lack of one or another nutrient, because through the leaves, garlic, like any plant, absorbs nutrients several times faster than through the roots.
For some reason, foliar top dressings are not very common for garlic, but for “ambulance” plants, for example, when the leaves turn yellow, they can do a good job. Most often, for foliar top dressing of garlic, the same solutions are used as for irrigation, but only diluted three or even four times.
If the weather is calm and cloudy outside, then spraying the leaves can be done at any time of the day. But in sunny weather, it can only be done early in the morning or in the evening after sunset, so that the leaves do not get additional burns.
Conclusion
It is important to remember that it is always better to underfeed garlic a little than overfeed it. Top dressing is definitely needed on poor, depleted soils, under adverse weather conditions. In all other cases, it is necessary to carefully monitor the condition of the plants, and if the garlic grows well and develops quickly, then the next top dressing can be postponed.
